American Indians and National Forests

Winner of the Forest History Society's 2017 Charles A. Weyerhaeuser Book Award

American Indians and National Forests tells the story of how the U.S. Forest Service and tribal nations dealt with sweeping changes in forest use, ownership, and management over the last century and a half. Indians and U.S. foresters came together over a shared conservation ethic on many cooperative endeavors; yet, they often clashed over how the nation’s forests ought to be valued and cared for on matters ranging from huckleberry picking and vision quests to road building and recreation development.

Marginalized in American society and long denied a seat at the table of public land stewardship, American Indian tribes have at last taken their rightful place and are making themselves heard. Weighing indigenous perspectives on the environment is an emerging trend in public land management in the United States and around the world. The Forest Service has been a strong partner in that movement over the past quarter century.

Catton covers a range of important issues, from specific case studies of tribal and USFS failures and successes, to macro-level discussions about Indian law, federal land use, and the nature of tribal sovereignty.”—Jeffrey P. Shepherd, author of We Are an Indian Nation: A History of the Hualapai People

This book is an important first step to understand American Indian and USFS history. It will form the basis for subsequent scholarship into tribal perspectives on the USFS relationship, specific case studies, and how American Indians have contributed to U.S. conservation history.”—Western Historical Quarterly

“[An] important and useful new study.”—NAIS

“Catton’s work is certainly very worthwhile for readers interested in the history of federal public lands as well as federal-Indian relations.”—American Indian Culture and Research Journal

“Catton has provided historians and Indian studies scholars with an informative and insightful institutional history of Forest Service– Indian relations.”—American Indian Quarterly

“American Indians and National Forests is a model for the kind of thoughtful and balanced work to which all public historians—and especially historical consultants—should aspire.”—Public Historian

“Catton’s contribution is an excellent resource for natural resource managers working with tribal governments and researchers interested in studying aspects of American Indian relationships with land management agencies.”—Agricultural History

Theodore Catton is a historian and co-proprietor of Environmental History Workshop in Missoula, Montana. He is an associate research professor of history at the University of Montana. He is the author of Inhabited Wilderness: Indians, Eskimos, and National Parks in Alaska and National Park, City Playground: Mount Rainier in the Twentieth Century.

List of Illustrations Foreword Introduction

1 Indians, Non-Indians, and the American Forests to 1900 2 Public Forests and Forests in Trust: The Early Twentieth Century 3 The Indian New Deal and the Forest Service 4 Indian Use of the National Forests to 1950 5 The Termination Era: The 1950s and 1960s 6 Foresters and Indians in a Time of Ferment and Renewal: The 1970s 7 Burial Grounds and Religious Freedoms: The 1980s 8 The New Forestry on National Forests and Reservations: The 1990s 9 Elevating the Tribal Relations Program 10 Tribes and the Healthy Forests Initiative 11 Valuing the Sacred 12 Lessons from Alaska 13 The Nez Perce Tribe and the Forest Service: A Case Study 14 The Twenty-First-Century Partnership